Airports are required to manage noise impact owing to a requirement for them to obtain a social license to operate from the public, and to comply with legislation such as the ICAO Balanced Approach and Environmental Noise Directive. The latter requires the development of noise action plans to help direct noise management strategies over long-term periods, however their success in this regard has been called into question. On the basis that noise is, at its core, a business challenge like any other, this paper investigates approaches and frameworks to strategic planning and decision making from the strategy and business literature, to identify core aspects that may be of value to the action planning process. In so doing the paper identifies several opportunities for noise action planning, and subsequent noise management measures, to be enhanced, and calls for additional research to further explore the potential for such approaches to be developed and applied in the future.
The health implications of aviation noise are well documented and often represent a significant barrier to ambitions for growth of the sector, or for airport development. Legislation exists to help manage and mitigate the impacts of such noise, however the transposition of such regulations into European Member State law differs from state to state as does the efficacy of such measures. This paper presents the findings of a series of elite stakeholder interviews with aviation noise stakeholders to determine the efficacy of current noise management approaches, and to identify ways in which noise could be better managed in the future. The research is part of ANIMA, a Horizon 2020 funded research project that aims to better understand noise impact mitigation in the EU, with the aim of developing new methodologies, approaches and tools to manage and mitigate the impact of aviation noise, enhancing the capability to respond to the growing traffic demand. The elite interviews identified a number of themes including some limitations of the Environmental Noise Directive and the ICAO Balanced Approach, the failure of land use planning to reduce noise impact, and the identification of a number of desired future research programmes, for instance developing an evidence base of interventions to reduce noise to better inform decision making.
This report presents the work carried out, and the outputs produced for Deliverable 2.1 of ANIMA, in which EU regulations, legal obligations and practical interventions in relation to aircraft noise have been reviewed, focusing on the extent to which policy and practice have enabled effective implementation of ICAO's Balanced Approach to noise impact mitigation. As described in the methodology, the task was led by MMU and contributed to by all WP2 partners. In so doing, the report was driven by 2 primary approaches: A Pan-European Review of Existing Regulations and Mitigation Strategies, as driven by the use of data capture templates completed by WP partners and their networks. This review identified different approaches to noise impact mitigation in EU Member States and different patterns of implementation. Elite interviews conducted by an MMU researcher with aviation stakeholders who are impacted by, or who have the ability to influence the impacts of aviation noise. These interviews helped to understand how and why the patterns identified through the template forms have developed. As well as internal validation by ANIMA members, further validation of the findings of this review will also be provided by the Impacts and Balanced Approach Expert Committee who will have the opportunity, throughout ANIMA, to validate project findings, and feed in additional expertise. The first opportunity for IBAEC feedback on ANIMA will be on the key findings of this report and presented in Deliverable 2.2. The research found that whilst the transposition of the Environmental Noise Directive and EU Directive 2002/30/EC have gone a long way to ensuring that the ICAO Balanced Approach underpins aviation noise management and mitigation in the European Union, several challenges and priorities for future research remain. The main findings were: There is no one size fits all solution to aviation noise: each airport requires its own solutions based on its specific characteristics. In other words, Balanced Approach implementation needs ...
Growing awareness of the negative externalities of aviation has led to increasing objections to airport development, notably to expansion. This can be challenging for airport operators - particularly in regions where air traffic is growing rapidly, or where expansion is sought. In response, the air transport industry has gone to great lengths to reduce the impact of noise. However, these efforts are not always translated into reductions in noise annoyance. An EU Horizon 2020 funded research project, Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches (ANIMA), looked to address this gap by developing new methodologies, approaches and tools to manage and mitigate the impact of aviation noise. Specifically, this paper reviews current practice in relation to airport communication and engagement activities in relation to noise. The paper reviews guidance provided by the aviation industry on public participation, finding that although the requirement for communication is made clear, guidance on exactly how such communication should take place is often lacking, as is the need for two-way dialogues and processes of evaluation. These findings are supported by a review of the literature surrounding the public participation to identify what the key components of such engagement activities should look like. The paper concludes with a call for an increased focus on community engagement by the aviation industry, and stresses the necessity not for communication to be a 'bolt-on' to existing ICAO Balanced Approach elements, but to be an important and necessary component of noise management in its own right.
Environmental noise from aviation represents a significant health burden for citizens and a major constraint to airport development. Industry has responded through noise abatement interventions, however research conducted in the ANIMA Project suggests non-acoustic factors are central to the human health response to noise, and that many of these factors can be influenced by airports engaging with their communities. This paper presents the results of a series of case studies seeking to understand the state of the art in noise communications undertaken by European Member State airports, comparing them to what the literature suggests is 'Best Practice'. Current practices are found to be comprehensive, but lacking in a number of key areas, suggesting the industry can enhance the quality of its communication activities and have a positive influence on the role of non-acoustic factors in driving noise annoyance.
This study presents the analysis of six airport exemplification case studies undertaken in the European project "Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches — ANIMA". Best practices related to aircraft noise management at airports in individual airport contexts were implemented and evaluated. Case studies on communication and community engagement in airport noise management were investigated at Heathrow (United Kingdom), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Rotterdam The Hague (The Netherlands) airports. For Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine) and Iasi (Romania) airports, the implementation of interventions related to land-use planning was examined. The interdependencies between noise and emissions were studied for Cluj (Romania) airport. All case studies were performed under the scope of the corresponding national legislation and guidelines. Individual characteristics of airport operations were taken into account The case studies were aligned with expectations and priorities of all involved stakeholders, such as representatives of airport operators, local communities, civil aviation authorities and policy makers. The efficacy of the noise management case studies is assessed in terms of the capacity to negotiate consensus outcomes, the extent to which noise impact reductions were achieved; and the participants' satisfaction with the process and outcomes. Experience gained from these studies will be used to distill best practices for future interventions.
Aircraft noise is the most significant impact on communities residing near airports. But in addition to acoustical factors, non-acoustical factors also contribute to noise annoyance. In the ANIMA project, relevant indicators influencing the quality of life of residents living near airport are identified. Literature studies, but also focus group meetings and workshops, and online survey for communities near altogether nine different European airports are performed to understand the role of the airport and the implications on the well-being of citizens. Furthermore, it is intended to study what current communication strategies of the airports are and how they influence the impact of aircraft noise on residents' annoyance response and well-being. A detailed literature study as well as a re-analysis of data has been carried out to develop awakenings indicators for nocturnal fly-overs, as noise-induced sleep disturbance has been linked to adverse health effects and is also associated with annoyance. Another study will be conducted to understand human visual perception of aircraft and their noise levels using a noise simulator with Virtual Reality glasses, where different aircraft types and their noise impact will be compared in a laboratory study and later in an "in situ" experiment. Finally, people's perception of environmental sound near the airport and the relation with land use planning will be evaluated by developing a mobile application to be used around Heathrow and Ljubljana Airport. Together with a carefully crafted social media study, data on property-value and movement of people throughout the day, we hope to establish more evidence on the relationship between land-use planning, noise perception and quality of life. The outcomes of all studies will be tested later in intervention studies and, or integrated into a Best-Practice portal that will be available for airports, governments, communities, and other stakeholders
International audience ; Aircraft noise is the most significant impact on communities residing near airports. But in addition to acoustical factors, non-acoustical factors also contribute to noise annoyance. In the ANIMA project, relevant indicators influencing the quality of life of residents living near airport are identified. Literature studies, but also focus group meetings and workshops, and online survey for communities near altogether nine different European airports are performed to understand the role of the airport and the implications on the well-being of citizens. Furthermore, it is intended to study what current communication strategies of the airports are and how they influence the impact of aircraft noise on residents? annoyance response and well-being. A detailed literature study as well as a re-analysis of data has been carried out to develop awakenings indicators for nocturnal fly-overs, as noise-induced sleep disturbance has been linked to adverse health effects and is also associated with annoyance. Another study will be conducted to understand human visual perception of aircraft and their noise levels using a noise simulator with Virtual Reality glasses, where different aircraft types and their noise impact will be compared in a laboratory study and later in an ?in situ? experiment. Finally, people?s perception of environmental sound near the airport and the relation with land use planning will be evaluated by developing a mobile application to be used around Heathrow and Ljubljana Airport. Together with a carefully crafted social media study, data on property-value and movement of people throughout the day, we hope to establish more evidence on the relationship between land-use planning, noise perception and quality of life. The outcomes of all studies will be tested later in intervention studies and, or integrated into a Best- Practice portal that will be available for airports, governments, communities, and other stakeholders.
International audience ; Aircraft noise is the most significant impact on communities residing near airports. But in addition to acoustical factors, non-acoustical factors also contribute to noise annoyance. In the ANIMA project, relevant indicators influencing the quality of life of residents living near airport are identified. Literature studies, but also focus group meetings and workshops, and online survey for communities near altogether nine different European airports are performed to understand the role of the airport and the implications on the well-being of citizens. Furthermore, it is intended to study what current communication strategies of the airports are and how they influence the impact of aircraft noise on residents? annoyance response and well-being. A detailed literature study as well as a re-analysis of data has been carried out to develop awakenings indicators for nocturnal fly-overs, as noise-induced sleep disturbance has been linked to adverse health effects and is also associated with annoyance. Another study will be conducted to understand human visual perception of aircraft and their noise levels using a noise simulator with Virtual Reality glasses, where different aircraft types and their noise impact will be compared in a laboratory study and later in an ?in situ? experiment. Finally, people?s perception of environmental sound near the airport and the relation with land use planning will be evaluated by developing a mobile application to be used around Heathrow and Ljubljana Airport. Together with a carefully crafted social media study, data on property-value and movement of people throughout the day, we hope to establish more evidence on the relationship between land-use planning, noise perception and quality of life. The outcomes of all studies will be tested later in intervention studies and, or integrated into a Best- Practice portal that will be available for airports, governments, communities, and other stakeholders.
This study presents the analysis of seven airport exemplification case studies undertaken in the European project "Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches – ANIMA". Best practices related to aircraft noise management at airports in individual airport contexts were implemented and evaluated. Case studies on communication and community engagement in airport noise management were investigated at Heathrow (United Kingdom), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Rotterdam The Hague (The Netherlands) airports. For Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine) and Iasi (Romania) airports, the implementation of interventions related to land use planning was examined. The interdependencies between noise and emissions were studied for the airport at Cluj (Romania) along with an exploration of key Quality of Life issues. All case studies were performed under the scope of the corresponding national legislation and guidelines. Individual characteristics of airport operations were taken into account. The case studies were aligned with expectations and priorities of all involved stakeholders, such as representatives of airport operators, local communities, civil aviation authorities and policy makers. The efficacy of the noise management case studies was assessed in terms of the capacity to negotiate consensus outcomes, the extent to which noise impact reductions were achieved, and the participants' satisfaction with the process and outcomes. The case studies revealed the vital importance of community engagement in noise management if decisions are to be accepted and outcomes valued. In general, the earlier this engagement starts in the process of decision-making and implementation the better; although care needs to be taken in the selection of methods of engagement to ensure the tools used are appropriate to the engagement and communication task faced. In this way, overly long engagement should be avoided and with that the risk of increased uncertainty in outcomes. Such engagement should also ensure that decisions and subsequent interventions ...
